Women Empowerment
I recently interviewed Tarani Goel, a 35-year-old entrepreneur born in Mumbai and came to Delhi for work. She has a solid education and has done history honours as well.
Q1) Have you ever faced gender discrimination in your life? If yes, how did you tackle it?
No, I haven’t faced Gender discrimination as such. I think that comes from where I was born and brought up which is in metropolitan cities like Delhi and Mumbai where there is a lot of gender equality. I wasn’t ever in a situation wherein another male was given an opportunity, and I wasn’t.
Also, when I was growing up, I was in a girls’ school and then when I came to Delhi, I was in a government school which was all female again. And then I went to college which was all girls as well. So, till the age of approximately 21, there was no chance of gender discrimination. Immediately after that, I started working in my family business. This was held by 2 sisters including me and my brother. My dad believed in giving us equal opportunity. So, again there was nothing that my brother got and we didn’t. We were always at par. In meetings, we were always talking to the same people. We had all developed in such a way that we had different roles but there was always equality and because of our dad being the boss, we were always treated fairly.
Anyway, people who I have worked with, because we employ so many different people from different backgrounds, a lot of people do have these issues. Girls have their inquiries about whether this place is safe, and will the environment I’ll work in will be stable. Because anyone who is working desires stability. They also ask if they are allowed to go out. Because a lot of girls don’t get the opportunity to do so. I think those are the kind of issues, people or girls might face.
Q2) Do you believe that gender discrimination is still favouring men in India? Or are both considered equal now?
Gender discrimination still exists in India. Again, in metropolitan cities, we may not feel it much, but I’m certain that if you go to tier 2 or tier 3 cities specifically, you’ll see a big gap like women are still expected to run the houses and be confined to their spaces. Because we are in Delhi, we see women going around and doing whatever they want to do. But I think in the rural parts, this still doesn’t exist.
Women still take on a lot of responsibilities as compared to men. Men just go out and work. But if you see the women, they do the household work and go out to work. Women are not considered equal in those parts of the city, because there is still that backward thinking, and a way the men try to suppress the women and that is why they don’t let the women move out. And if they do let them work outside, they are bullied. So, even if you talk about the house helps that come. They come, work and then are subdued by their husbands and in-laws. So even if they are earning, they are not given equal respect.
Therefore, I think that the roles and responsibilities of women keep increasing but they’re still not treated at par. And I think that it’s not propaganda or something, it’s the way you are brought up. So, even if you’re doing this session because you want to be sensitive towards women what are things that we should be careful while doing, saying, or behaving that do not make them feel discriminated. Because sometimes it’s just an unset thing that we behave in such a way. So, it’s not overrated of course.
Q3) According to Indian mentality, women should sit at home and do the home jobs. However, ideally, women also have the right to work outside. What should women choose (keep the social pressures in mind)?
I think women should be able to do whatever they want. She should be able to decide. Like a man gets to decide whether he wants to study, whether he wants to do a job in the city, or whether he wants to go abroad. Similarly, girls should have the independence to choose whether they want to study, whether they want to work, or they don’t want to work. It shouldn’t be confined.
I think it comes from our parents’ generation, that women should be teachers, or should do jobs in banks. There were set roles which have obviously modified in our times. In our times, there are no boundaries. We can be whatever we want. We can be doctors and engineers, we can be anything and everything.
When it comes to home jobs, I think it should be a shared responsibility. It’s not only the female’s responsibility. Whoever enjoys it in the family can go ahead and take the responsibility. But, it shouldn’t be a burden. I read this book about an interview with Indira Gandhi when the interviewer asked if she would have preferred being a man rather than a woman. She replied that of course, she wouldn’t. If she had been a man, how would she get the joy of watering flowers or cooking a meal? Consequently, I think that there’s a lot of strength and capability in the roles we can carry out. And when it comes to social pressure, I think times are changing. It all comes to capability. If you are a girl you must cook, do housework, etc. But if I have the capability of doing multiple jobs, then why not?
Q4) According to you, what impact does gender inequality have on the world?
So, I think gender inequality when we go back to the 1980s, and 1960s was at its peak. Women were confined to these boxes and I’m talking about not only India but also in Europe, and the U.S.A. as well. There was a whole movement for women to have the right to vote in the U.S. Even if you see movies of that time, you’ll see that women are doing only specific jobs. And that’s why the growth of that state, nation or world slowed down. If a woman can do better than a man and you give the man the opportunity, then of course you get less progress off it. You don’t know how much capability each individual has to contribute to the outside world.
Q5) What are the solutions to reduce gender discrimination in the world?
- I think it starts with birth. Every child should be born. Hospitals don’t share the gender of the child because people abort it if it’s a girl. So, every child has a role to play in life. Every child has a god in it.
- Secondly, every child should get the right to education. Education is pivotal as it creates the child’s foundation. And there should be an environment full of equality as well. It shouldn’t be that a girl goes to school and has to come back to help her mother or do the housework. And the boys are allowed to play football or just be rowdy. It should be equal responsibility at home as well.
- Thirdly, every child should get the opportunity. I know that parents want to be protective that if it’s a woman she should work in the same city, or not go out. But at least give her that opportunity. Parents should provide little, little confidence step by step to show that they have confidence in her ability.
- Fourthly, awareness is also essential. A couple of years back a movement by UNESCO was named “He for She”. What the campaign’s name meant was that it’s the men who have to speak up for the women. So, he has to start treating her equally, he has to give her respect and he has to step up. It’s not only women who support other women. We need to have more movements to spread awareness and support women.
